


State Lines

by AutumnBlueWylde



Series: The Great Escape [2]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-07-23 20:44:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7479309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnBlueWylde/pseuds/AutumnBlueWylde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Blue, Henry and Gansey take off on a journey across America in the Dream Camaro.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Driving down the highway, Gansey realised something. They were on open road, it was too far to go back when he exclaimed "My mint plant!" Blue was driving and decided to stop at a Wal-Mart so he could get a new one, Blue mentioned that they might need to stock up on bottled water, since their entire drinking supply for the trip consisted of one litre bottle of Coke Zero that Henry had finished about 60 miles before Gansey's realisation.

With a good few litres of water and Mountain Dew in the trunk, and Gansey's mint plant safely tucked in the cup holder, they set back off, Blue still driving. 

"What were you saying before your leafy crisis, Gansey?" Blue prompted, checking the mirrors. They were the only ones on the road. It was like an old western film, they were driving towards the sunset on the horizon, the sky streaked an incredible array of pinks and dusky purples, it looked like a painting of the sky, not the actual sky.

"Hm?" He was ripping a leaf from the plant, Henry was already asleep in the back seat, his mouth was open slightly and he was snoring softly, his arm hanging into the footwell, feet kicked up on the other end of the seat. Gansey put the leaf in his mouth. "Oh, Adam and Ronan, you know I'm going to have to repeat all of this again for him," he gestured to the backseat with his thumb, "don't you?" Blue nodded, not taking her eyes off the road. She was concentrating so fiercely Gansey thought she might rip out the steering wheel or the gear stick. He rolled his eyes and launched into the whole "Adam and Ronan kissed" story.  


"I'm not shocked." Blue said when Gansey had finished.

"Me neither, Ganseyman." Henry piped up from the back seat. Blue and Gansey didn't know he'd woken up, so Blue started slightly at the sound of his voice.

"Shit!" Her swearing made Gansey smile and Henry laugh. "But yeah, I kinda gathered Ronan was, yeno." She flapped her free hand around in a vague sort of way.

"Gay?" Henry helped.

"Yes." She put her hand back on the gearshift.

"Yeah, but Adam?" Gansey asked.

"I'm just shocked Ronan is Adam's type." Blue commented.

"I'm not." Henry said. "I mean, he went out with you." He punched the back of Blue's seat. Her eyes narrowed at him in the rearview mirror, Gansey was considering what Henry had said and looked like he was agreeing with it.

"Good point, actually." Gansey did agree.

"What do you mean? 'Good point'?" Blue had put the indicator on, they were pulling into a motel car park, they were crossing the state line into Ohio when Gansey described how he told Adam not to hurt Ronan. Neither boy said anything until the car stopped.  


"It's just, well," Gansey started.

"You and Ronan are both, how do I say this?" Henry added.

"Strong personalities." Gansey finished.

"Ronan's an asshole." Blue nearly yelled. "Are you saying I'm an asshole?" Henry got out of the car and went round to the trunk, Gansey followed suit. Blue very nearly punched the window, then actually understood what they meant. They were nothing alike, really. Her being 5 foot nothing and terribly colourful and eccentric, by name and by fashion choice, him being nearly 6 foot tall and mostly made of sharp edges and blacker than black material. But personality wise? They were very similar. Neither of them took anyone's shit, but Blue verbally attacked people who deserved it, Ronan just attacked people. They were short tempered and fiery.

"Hm." She accepted it. They weren't wrong, but she wouldn't say it out loud. She got out of the car. The sky was a backlit canopy with holes poked in it, to quote her favourite Incubus song. Her gaze went up up up, until her neck hurt, she sighed, Gansey put his arm around her waist. She looked at him, then at Henry, whose hand she took, and they walked to the check in desk like that, her in the middle, Gansey one side, Henry the other.

This is going to be an amazing trip, she thought to herself.


	2. Ohio

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarchengsey go to Ohio. Cleveland & Cincinatti.
> 
> The way her face lit up, it was incredible, but the fact her happiness was so infectious, her smile making Gansey smile, making Henry smile, it's what this trip was about. Magic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever. Sorry.  
> I've been working the past 2 weeks straight, and I've spent all my spare time on my own book, or asleep.  
> But yeah, like I said, I am so crap at geography, and I'm not from America. Feel free to call me out on any mistakes.

Henry woke up early. They got a twin room, the beds next to eachother, separated by about 2 feet of carpet that hadn't been changed since the 70's and a puke green bedside table that had seen better days. Gansey's wire framed glasses were sat on top of it next to a glass of water. He checked his phone, 8am.

"Jesus." He rubbed his eyes, then dragged his hands down his face, as he turned to face the opposite bed. What he saw startled him slightly. Gansey and Blue were still asleep, but at some point, Gansey had kicked the comforter mostly off, onto Blue, along with his sweat pants. So now Henry was just staring at Gansey's bare ass. "Jesus!" His exclamation woke Gansey.

"What?" He turned over and reached for his glasses. Henry didn't know where to look, so he just got out of bed and went to the bathroom. He could hear Blue waking and giggling before Gansey's muffled "oh! God!" and then Blue bursting into hysterics as Gansey scrabbled to put his sweats back on.

Henry splashed his face with water. Blue thumped on the door. "Come on! I gotta pee! Gansey's wearing pants, it's safe!" She laughed again. It was musical. There was another thud against the door. It was a muted, soft noise. So it wasn't a fist. "Hey!" Blue shouted, cutting off her laughter. She knocked again. Henry opened the door, Blue shoved past him, as best as she could with her only coming up to his shoulder.

There was a pillow on the floor outside the bathroom. That was the thud. Gansey must have thrown it at Blue, Henry thought, looking up at Ganseys overly apologetic face.

"Man, I am so sor-"

"It's cool Gansey bro," Henry lifted his hands, palms facing Gansey in a 'please stop talking about it and never mention it again' kind of way.

********************************

After going to the desk clerk (a lady who was wearing a very flattering dress and a very unflattering shade of makeup that made her look more oompa-loompa than person, by the name Camille) to check out and get a map of Ohio and things to do ("No GPS, we're doing this the old fashioned way" Blue had said when Gansey was packing electronics into his duffel bag and Henry was downloading routes onto his smartphone) and loading what little they had unloaded from the car the previous night, Blue finally emerged from their room, wearing a Pink Floyd shirt that she had shredded with very short denim shorts, fishnet tights (with bigger holes that were intentionally unintentional) and knee high socks. Henry was staring. He knew he was. How could he not?

"So!" She smiled as she jogged over to them, her hair had gotten longer. It wasn't spikey anymore, she could get it all into one hairtie without a million hair clips, but she left it down, so it flowed behind her in the slight breeze. "What are we doing today?" 

She was so excited, it was infectious, Henry and Gansey both broke into smiles as soon as she did.

"1100 Rock and Roll Boulevard. Cleveland, Ohio." Gansey said as he opened the car, it was his turn to drive, Henry would be driving the next day. Blue pushed the seats forward and sprawled out in the back as the others got in the front. Henry allowed himself to look at her more in the rearview mirror, her bare midriff was tanned and flat. She'd aquired a belly button piercing on her 19th birthday, the jewellery sparkled in the mid morning light coming in the back window of the Camaro.

"The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Awesome" Blue said as Gansey turned the key. Henry couldn't help but think of why this car would need a key if there was no engine. It didn't make sense to him, but then again, nothing about Ronan did. He turned in his seat to speak to her.

"Yeah, there's a Beastie Boys exhibit." She frowned. They all knew how she felt about the Beastie Boys. "Gun's 'n' Rose's?" She cracked another grin, and kicked her feet up against the back window, the rubber soles of her Dr Martens squeaking against the glass as Gansey turned the car out of the lot onto the freeway.

************************************

"Finally!" Blue exclaimed as the car drove towards the building's parking lot. It was a huge glass pyramid with dozens of multi coloured seven foot guitars outside, she actually had her nose pressed to the window, which made Henry smile.

The inside of the building was just as impressive. Gansey's head was at a ninety degree angle to his neck as soon as they walked in, because there were several cars suspended on wires from the ceiling, Henry was looking up too. He and Gansey wore matching expressions of awe. Blue was getting tickets.

After wandering around the exhibits for what felt like an eternity, Blue was the first to say "I'm hungry." They'd skipped breakfast due to the incident with the bedcovers, so Henry and Gansey both made noises of agreement and decided it was time to leave.

*********************************

The next motel room wasn't nearly as badly decorated as the one from the previous night, it was simple, monochromatic and spacious with large windows. They had found it after they went and had food, they had McDonalds, Henry and Gansey still couldn't look at eachother, Blue found this hilarious.

"You know," she said around a chicken nugget, "Gansey's butt isn't that terrible to look at." Henry turned pink, and carried on with his fries, without looking up. Gansey just stared sideways at her, like a confused beagle, in a 'what the hell' kind of way. "What? I'm just saying. It happened. It's not exactly a big deal." Henry winced, turning more pink. "Unless it is a big deal?" She made a point of saying this directly at Henry, who was fascinated by his ketchup, all of a sudden.

"Of course it's not, Jane." Gansey interupted, Henry was incredibly grateful for this. "She's right though," Blue made a 'hmph' noise, she liked being right, obviously, "we'll look back on this and laugh, come on, we need to make plans for tomorrow."

************************************

The next morning went a lot smoother. For a start, Gansey managed to keep his pants on all night, so Henry didn't wake up to anything unexpected. He wanted to talk to them about it. But he couldn't. He didn't understand it himself let alone how to explain it to his two best friends. Would they even understand? 'Whatever', he thought, walking into the bathroom, 'it'll be fine.'

They spent the afternoon wandering around Cleveland's Botanical Garden, it was really difficult trying to get Blue to leave the Glasshouse, she was totally enamoured by the butterflies and lizards, it was all so magical to her. The way her face lit up, it was incredible, but the fact her happiness was so infectious, her smile making Gansey smile, making Henry smile, it's what this trip was about. Magic.

"Come on, Blue!" Henry grabbed her sleeve, "Cincinatti awaits!"

Her eyes widened, "The observatory?" That smile again.

"The observatory."

So they, meaning Henry, drove the four hours from the gardens, to the observatory in Cincinatti, which was being operated by a delightful older man called Steve. Steve had a balding head, and a bit of a gut, but he had the loveliest smile, and he showed Blue the stars. Her stars.

The drive to the motel was peaceful, Blue was smiling up at the inky night sky, Gansey was smiling at her, and he smiled because they both made him happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided that after the last story with the whole "blue and gansey dont share a bed because he's a gent" That would have changed by this point.  
> Blue also is totally the kinda girl to get a belly ring.... So.... :')


	3. Indiana

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things to do in Indiana, as seen through the eyes of three weird teenagers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS TOOK TOO LONG.

Blue decided their first stop in Indiana would be Richmond. Though the boys couldn't quite understand why.

"There's nothing here," whined Henry as they parked the dream Camaro outside of yet another no name motel, "even the sky is boring." He was right. It was a dulled gray and looked like rain. Blue just ignored him, she was too focused on getting the car straight.

After checking in, showering and eating, they decided to have a look in the motel reception, for flyers and leaflets on anything they could do, Henry whined, again, "There's nothing here." Blue and Gansey sighed, he was right, again, plus it had started raining.

They spent the night eating pizza and watching films, Gansey managed to get a cheap DVD player from a local Wal Mart, along with a few DVD's, mostly old horrors. Blue fell asleep during The Lost Boys, and Henry and Gansey sat up talking until dawn, Blue's head on Gansey's knee, her feet tucked under Henry.

***

"Well, that was a bust," Blue said, arm leaning out of the window, spiky tufts of hair blowing about as Henry pulled out of the car park, and away from Richmond. This time, Gansey was spread out in the back, sunglasses on, his open mouth betraying the fact that he was asleep. Blue took a photo of him on the camera she bought at the Wal Mart.

"Where to, then?" Henry asked, eyes firmly on the road, or the mirrors, hands firmly at ten and two on the wheel. Clearly, anything with a decent engine still freaked him out. Clearly, because he was hovering just below the speed limit.  
Blue shrugged, so did Gansey, but Henry didn't see. She said, to Gansey "Give me your phone."

"What?" He replied. Confused because of her 'doing this old school' rule, he handed her his mobile anyway.  
After a few minutes of frantic tapping and sliding on the screen, she said "Pull over."

Henry pulled over. They didn't even know where they were, just that there was lots of farm land and a crisp cerulean sky, the clouds had disappeared by mid-morning. Blue bolted out of the door as soon as Henry had stopped fully. She was making a call. They couldn't hear her, so they passed the time trying to find a decent radio station. They didn't.

Something almost resembling a song tried to play through the static when Blue returned. She gave Henry Gansey's phone with a screenshot of a map on the screen.

"I can't read _and_ drive, Sargent." He said, with a weird look of aversion on his face toward the phone.

"Ugh, fine," She laughed, "I'll read the directions. Where are we?" She looked around for mile markers, there were none.

"I-70" Henry said, trying to be helpful, but both Blue and Gansey shot him withering looks. He shrugged, the look on his face saying 'I dunno' eyebrows up in his hairline, chin pulled back.

"About 20 minutes outside of Cambridge." Gansey piped up.

"Better," said Blue, "Right, stay on the interstate until I say so."

***

Eventually they reached their destination. Bruceville, Indiana. The opposite side of the state, which meant that if they wanted to see more (which they did) they would be doubling back, they didn't mind.

What Blue had found on Gansey's phone was the back yard of a man named Mr Ivers ("John, please." He insisted when Gansey shook his hand.) The man, who had no engineering education, but was a total adrenaline junkie, had built two rollercoasters behind his house.

"The last kids here were a couple," John remarked, noting Gansey and Blue's hand holding, and apparently completely ignoring Henry, "they were lovely." His eyes went distant briefly, remembering this lovely couple. Then his attention snapped back to them, he clapped his hands together, Blue jumped, Gansey coughed, covering a laugh, Henry just giggled at her. She scowled. John smiled wide, obvious even under his giant grey mustache, "Who wants to ride Blue?"

Blue turned red. Gansey and Henry couldn't help themselves, they started howling with laughter. John was confused.  
After the boys had calmed down enough, Blue explained, John was flustered but then explained he shortened 'Blue Flash' to Blue, and kept 'Blue Too' that way. He was more embarrassed than her.

Her embarrassment wore off after she rode the first rollercoaster, more so after she'd been on them both, and so had the other two.

The sky was darkening to an inky purple when they'd had all their fun, they say their thanks and goodbyes to John, who once again apologises to Blue for making her feel uncomfortable, she just wished he hadn't brought it up again.

They stayed in a local hotel, too tired to travel any further. At the desk the receptionist informs them they only had one room left, a double. They took it, and all collapsed in a pile onto the king size placed squarely in the centre of the room.

***

Blue woke up first, her mouth was dry and her hair was plastered to the back of her neck, it was too warm. And too bright, they were so tired they hadn't even closed the curtains the night before, and they had an east facing window, the low morning light shone in a square right on top of them all. She was tangled in a pretzel of the three of them.

Blue really needed to pee. And shower. After a few minutes of contemplating how to go about getting out of the bed without disturbing the others, she decided there was no way around it. She launched herself off the bed, Henry rolled off, landing with a thunk and a "sunnovabitch." Gansey was still asleep, face smushed into the pillow, drooling.

Blue patted Henry on the head as she passed him into the bathroom.

***

They drove another 3 hours to get to Munster, to see a shrine advertised as the "Ultraviolet Apocalypse." Gansey was enamored, Henry was annoyed he had to climb stairs on his hands and knees. 

The whole experience took them less than an hour, so Gansey decided to google other wonders in Indiana when they'd finally decided where to eat.

"What about this place?" Gansey pointed to an article on his phone.

"'Worlds largest ball of paint' what?" Henry read it out loud, himself and Blue were not impressed, her mouth was full of burrito so she gave Gansey a thumbs down.

They kept doing this until they found one they agreed on, even if the name did agitate and further embarrass Blue.

Happy with their choice, they found yet another motel, this time, Henry got his own bed.

***

They decided this would be their last day in Indiana, before moving on to Kentucky that night.

Gansey pulled the Camaro up near their destination. It looked pretty desolate, the woods ahead of them were dense, it reminded them all at once of Cabeswater, but when they stepped through the treeline, their hearts both plummeted and sighed with relief, no magic here.

They emerged on a cliff, suspended over a large body of water, that looked bottomless, as promised. The Blue Hole.

They set their rucksacks of water and sandwiches down, and they dove in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a long chapter. Thank you to everyone who may still be hanging on to read this. I have been struggling with this story. I don't know America at all.  
> I'd like to give some credit to Jenifer Niven for this chapter, because it probably wouldn't have been possible without All The Bright Places.  
> Any and all feedback is GREATLY appreciated :):):)

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to make these a series because they all kind of tie in together. They can be read separately since this story was never actually planned.


End file.
